Sixth Suicide in 10 Days Noel John Dooley, was found hanged in the segregation unit of HMP Full Sutton on Sunday 19th May. ========================== Juveniles in cells 20 hours a day By Philip Johnston, The Telegraph, (Filed: 21/05/2002) Young criminals are being locked in their cells for up to 20 hours a day with little in the way of education, work or training to occupy them, prison inspectors say today. Reports on two young offender institutions - at Onley, near Rugby, Warwicks, and Hindley, in Wigan, Lancs - criticise the lack of "purposeful activity" available to inmates. Anne Owers, the chief inspector of prisons, said sentenced and remand prisoners at Onley were victims of "an impoverished regime . . . one of the worst we have seen". Those awaiting sentence did not leave the wing apart from access to the gym for an hour a day. There was no evening association, meals were taken in cells and "on days when there was no education, most young people were locked up for almost 20 hours a day". For sentenced juveniles, the position was "slightly better but there was still an unacceptably large number of young people locked up all day with nothing to do". Inspectors also found a "disturbing" level of assaults at the jail and an "alarmingly frequent" use of control and restraint techniques. Their report adds: "We received a high number of complaints from young prisoners that they felt intimidated by staff, and in particular that they were being bullied and subjected to a range of informal and illegal punishments." There was a similar story at Hindley, where young men spent 18 hours in their cells and had only 15 hours of work, education and training each week. "Under normal circumstances, young prisoners should spend at least 10 hours a day out of their cells," say the inspectors. Miss Owers said: "Without more investment in education, employment training and resettlement, these young people will remain at high risk of reoffending on release." Martin Narey, director general of the Prison Service, said: "The number of hours that prisoners have been spending out of the cells and engaged in purposeful activity has been increasing." |